My own belief is that all music has an expressive power, some more and some less, but that all music has a certain meaning behind the notes and that the meaning behind the notes constitutes, after all, what the piece is saying, what the piece is about. The whole problem can be stated quite simply by asking, ‘Is there a meaning to music?’ My answer to that would be, ‘Yes.’ And ‘Can you state in so many words what the meaning is?’ My answer to that would be, ‘No.’ Therein lies the difficulty.
This brief quote comes from Aaron Copland’s What to Listen for in Music and I’ve found it validating. I love listening to music, but I have no idea how to write about it. The language to write about literature and film comes to me easily enough, but music seems much harder.